Heineken Prize for History laureate 2004 Jacques Le Goff deceased

On 1 April 2014, the French historian Jacques Le Goff died in Paris aged ninety. Le Goff was awarded the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for History 2004 for 'fundamentally changing our view of the Middle Ages'.

Le Goff, dubbed 'the Pope of the Middle Ages' by the press and affectionately known as the 'gourmand historian' by his colleagues, is one of the most important representatives and pioneers of the 'New History', in which the emphasis in historical research has shifted from political figures and events to the history of mentality and historical anthropology. To put it in simple terms: what was life like for 'the common man'?

Le Goff is a prolific writer who has published works on politics, intellectualism, economics and the human body as well as a number of biographies.